Ross is set to run for re-election to the U.S. House in 2014. If he runs, he will seek the Republican nomination in the primary election.The general election took place November 4, 2014.

Based on analysis of multiple outside rankings, Ross is one of the most reliable Republican votes, meaning he can be considered a safe vote for the Republican Party in Congress.

Biography

Born and raised in Lakeland, Florida, Ross was the youngest of five children. He attended Catholic school for nine years before graduating at Lakeland Senior High School in 1977.

After high school, he attended the University of Florida before transferring to Auburn University where he graduated in 1981 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Organizational Management. He then graduated from Samford University's Cumberland School of Law in 1987.[4]

Issues

Campaign themes

2012

Excerpt: "Our nation continues to spend way more than it takes in each and every year. With our national debt topping $15 trillion, Washington needs to show real leadership by passing a BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT to our Constitution. This is the only effective way to make politicians cut spending and rein in government waste. "

Job Creation

Excerpt: "For years, “Jobs and the Economy” has been the issue of each and every political campaign. The simple answer to what Washington can do to create jobs is “get out of the way”."

Protecting Seniors Social Security and Medicare

Excerpt: "Keeping our promises to seniors is a top priority for anyone who is elected to serve in Washington. As your Representative, I will make fight to make Medicare solvent for this generation and generations beyond as well as making sure Social Security is there for the millions of seniors who paid into the system and depend on their benefits."

Political positions

Fiscal Cliff

Ross voted against the fiscal cliff compromise bill, which made permanent most of the Bush tax cuts originally passed in 2001 and 2003 while also raising tax rates on the highest income levels. He was 1 of 151 Republicans that voted against the bill. The bill was passed in the House by a 257/167 vote on January 1, 2013.[8]

Legislative actions

113th Congress

The second session of the 113th Congress enacted into law 114 out of the 3,036 introduced bills (3.8 percent). Comparatively, the 112th Congress had 4.2 percent of introduced bills enacted into law in the second session.[9] For more information pertaining to Ross's voting record in the 113th Congress, please see the below sections.[10]

National security

American response in Syria

Ross released a statement on September 2, 2013, saying, "Yesterday, I attended a classified briefing for Members of Congress on the assessment of Syria...I join President Obama in strongly condemning the regime's use of chemical weapons against their people. However, the decision to use military force against Bashar al-Assad is one that the President of the United States must seek approval first from Congress. Last week, 140 of my colleagues and I sent a letter to the president stating that engaging our military in Syria when no direct threat to the United States exists and without prior Congressional authorization would violate the separation of powers that is clearly delineated in the Constitution.

After being briefed yesterday, I continue to not support the use of military force in Syria at this time. What is the compelling national interest at stake that requires our military involvement? I have yet to learn of any exit strategy, or what may be the impact of retaliatory strikes by Assad against our allies. I believe that the most prudent option to resolve the conflict in Syria is to continue to work in a more concerted diplomatic manner with other countries in the region.”[11]

Relevancy Act

An amendment that would have prevented the government from funding data collection from anyone besides those "subject to an investigation," proposed by Justin Amash (R), was narrowly defeated in July 2013.[12]

However, Ross introduced a new proposal, H.R. 2603, The Relevancy Act, for consideration by the House in September 2013.[12] The bill which would require an FBI investigation to be of a specific person or group of persons, and it requires the tangible things sought and collected by the NSA to be related to a person that is subject to an investigation.[12] It also prevents the FBI from seeking a secret order requiring companies like Verizon to turn over all of its caller data to the NSA.[13]

“The law requires that the records be relevant to the investigation. Conducting mass surveillance on all records from every Verizon subscriber goes far beyond the scope of the law and is an invasion of our freedoms and privacy,” said Ross. “This bill provides a starting point to make essential reforms. I look forward to working with the committee to ensure that we as a country keep our citizens safe from terrorist attacks while protecting our personal freedoms.”[13]

"When I looked at the business records exemption of the Patriot Act, it essentially says that whatever is being sought by application for discovery, meaning metadata records, things of that nature, there has to be some relevancy between that and an ongoing terrorism investigation," Ross explained in an interview in August 2013.[12]

"I believe the FISA court has gone too far because why is it that my mother-in-law, who's 74 years old, has a cellphone and now her metadata is relevant to an ongoing terrorist investigation? Our bill would have required that they have to specifically say persons or groups of persons as to why in the application there's a relevancy between that sought and a terrorist investigation. We have to be careful that we protect our liberties, and I think that we've done a great job of maintaining our national security, but at what expense are we starting to do that? So I think we need to have the debate on NSA and FISA courts to make sure ... they're not going so far as to not give due process to innocent civilians."[12]

Department of Homeland Security Appropriations

Ross voted in favor of HR 2217 - the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2014. The bill passed the House on June 6, 2013, with a vote of 245 - 182 and was largely along party lines.[14]

Keystone Pipeline Amendment

Ross voted against House Amendment 69, which would have amended HR 3 to "require that the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, in consultation with the Department of Homeland Security, conduct a study of the vulnerabilities of the Keystone XL pipeline to a terrorist attack and certify that necessary protections have been put in place." The amendment failed on May 22, 2013, with a vote of 176 - 239 and was largely along party lines.[14]

Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act

Ross voted in favor of HR 624 - the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act. The bill passed the House on April 18, 2013, with a vote of 288 - 127. The bill would allow federal intelligence agencies to share cybersecurity intelligence and information with private entities and utilities.[15] The bill was largely supported by Republicans but divided the Democratic Party.[14]

National Defense Authorization Act

Ross voted in favor of HR 1960 - the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014. The bill passed the House on June 14, 2013, with a vote of 315 - 108. Both parties were somewhat divided on the vote.[14]

Economy

Immigration

Morton Memos Enforcement Prohibition

Ross voted in favor of House Amendment 136 - Prohibits the Enforcement of the Immigration Executive Order. The amendment was adopted by the House on June 6, 2013, with a vote of 224 - 201. The purpose of the amendment as stated on the official text is to "prohibit the use of funds to finalize, implement, administer, or enforce the Morton Memos." These memos would have granted administrative amnesty to certain illegal aliens residing in the United States. The vote largely followed party lines.[14]

Healthcare

Health Care Reform Rules

Ross voted in favor of House Amendment 450 - Requires Congressional Approval for Any Rules Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The amendment was adopted by the House on August 2, 2013, with a vote of 227-185. The amendment requires all changes to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act be approved by Congress before taking effect. The vote was largely along party lines.[14]

Keep the IRS Off Your Health Care Act

Ross voted in favor of HR 2009 - Keep the IRS Off Your Health Care Act of 2013. The bill passed through the House on August 2, 2013, with a vote of 232-185. The bill would prevent the IRS and Treasury Secretary from enforcing the powers provided to them in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The vote largely followed party lines.[14]

Social issues

Amash amendment

Ross voted in favor of House Amendment 413 - Prohibits the National Security Agency from Collecting Records Under the Patriot Act. The amendment failed on July 4, 2013 by a vote of 205-217. The amendment would have prohibited the collection of records by the National Security Agency under the Patriot Act. Both parties were split on the vote.[14]

Full history

To view the full congressional electoral history for Dennis A. Ross, click [show] to expand the section.

2010

On November 2, 2010, Dennis A. Ross won election to the United States House. He defeated Lori Edwards (D) and Randy Wilkinson (I) in the general election.[18]

U.S. House, Florida District 12 General Election, 2010

Party

Candidate

Vote %

Votes

Republican

Dennis A. Ross

48.1%

102,704

Democratic

Lori Edwards

41.1%

87,769

Tea Party

Randy Wilkinson

10.7%

22,857

Total Votes

213,330

Campaign donors

Comprehensive donor information for Ross is available dating back to 2010. Based on available campaign finance records, Ross raised a total of $2,058,462 during that time period. This information was last updated on April 4, 2013.[19]

2012

Breakdown of the source of Ross's campaign funds before the 2012 election.

Ross won re-election to the U.S. House in 2012. During that election cycle, Ross's campaign committee raised a total of $1,020,415 and spent $801,764.[23] This is less than the average $1.5 million spent by House winners in 2012.[24]

Lifetime voting record

According to the website GovTrack, Ross missed 22 of 1,695 roll call votes from Jan 2011 to Mar 2013. This amounts to 1.3%, which is better than the median of 2.2% among current congressional representatives as of March 2013.[28]

Congressional staff salaries

The website Legistorm compiles staff salary information for members of Congress. Ross paid his congressional staff a total of $973,361 in 2011. He ranks 173rd on the list of the lowest paid Republican representative staff salaries and ranks 233rd overall of the lowest paid representative staff salaries in 2011. Overall, Florida ranks 36th in average salary for representative staff. The average U.S. House of Representatives congressional staff was paid $954,912.20 in fiscal year 2011.[29]

Staff bonuses

According to an analysis by CNN, Ross was one of nearly 25 percent of House members who gave their staff bonuses in 2012. Ross's staff was given an apparent $56,000.00 in bonus money.[30]

Net worth

2011

Based on congressional financial disclosure forms and calculations made available by OpenSecrets.org, Ross's net worth as of 2011 was estimated between -$3,447,996 and $8,869,994. That averages to $2,710,999, which is lower than the average net worth of Republican representatives in 2011 of $7,859,232. His average net worth decreased by 55.83% from 2010.[31]

2010

Based on congressional financial disclosure forms and calculations made available by OpenSecrets.org, Ross' net worth as of 2010 was estimated between $1,990,008 and $10,284,998. That averages to $6,137,503, which is lower than the average net worth of Republican representatives in 2010 of $7,561,133.[32]